Algodoo

Haha! Redwolfairsoft has good explanations of GBB mechanics. They are actually quite elegant in design.

The magazine contains the BB pellets and the gas, in liquid form and under pressure. The flow of the gas is controlled by a large valve located on the back of the magazine. When depressed, the gas vents out a rubber gasket on top of the magazine.

The nozzle can be considered as the bolt of the gun. It is generally a hollow tube with one narrow end that fits in the barrel right in front of the chambered pellet and a wide end for a piston fixed in the slide. A large hole in the bottom facing the magazine well is the inlet for the gas. Assembled in the gun and with the magazine inserted, the nozzle is sealed on three ends: The wide end is sealed by the piston, the narrow one by a rocket valve, and the bottom hole by the magazine gasket. The nozzle slides freely from front to back.

The airsoft replica has a hammer or striker that actually does "fire" the pellet and create blowback. However, it does not strike a firing pin in the slide, but a spring loaded "knocker" in the frame. When the magazine is inserted into the grip of the pistol, the knocker is aligned with the main gas release valve on the magazine. The rubber gasket on top is firmly pressed against the gas inlet hole of the nozzle.

The moment the hammer is released and depresses the knocker, in turn pressing the main gas valve on the magazine, liquid gas in the magazine vaporises instantly, venting out inside of the nozzle via the gasket. The rocket valve is opened since it rests against the back of the BB, and allows a small dose of the gas to rush into the barrel, propelling the BB before closing and sealing the narrow end of the nozzle. As gas keeps expanding inside the nozzle, the piston connected to the slide moves back, starting the blowback process. The hammer gets pushed back by the slide and, with the magazine valve no longer depressed by it, the gas stops flowing. Now, inertia racks the slide back, slamming it into the frame, giving you the sensation of recoil. The nozzle springs back into the slide, allowing the next BB to pop up in its path. The recoil spring pushes the slide forward and a flange on the nozzle shoves the BB into the chamber.

That was quite a long and detailed explanation, and I hope this helps you. Pictures and diagrams may help.

@Bulletfarmer Wow... Truly a forgotten weapon. It sort of feels like the P210 and the M9 had an ugly baby. It seems to have its quirks, such as a safety that only blocked the firing pin and a magazine ejector/safety! Guess what? I FOUND BLUEPRINTS for this pistol, but no decent external pictures. I might consider doing it, but I am finishing a Gen4 Glock 23. It's gonna have a lot of new generation features I recently developed. Cheers then.

There are a lot of inaccuracies with this skin, if that is your goal to make a authentic Glock pistol (about time). The current trigger position is the fully-pressed in one. The pistol, when cocked, has the trigger way forward. The slide stop actually locks in the notch, and you can see into the guts of the pistol through the notch, unlike the Algodoo model you present us.

Keep going though, I like where this is going.

Good job Clank. That is a decent mechanical M1911. There are a few issues to be addressed though. The spring loaded hinged extractor does not work well. You are much better off with just a fixed one. Also, the barrel "bushing" is ridiculously loose. A floppy barrel definitely doesn't help with realism, if that what you are aiming for.

The skin however is great. Lots of details and surfaces. Great job.

The rifle itself is great. The skin is pretty nice. However, there are points to improve:

-The cases do not eject. This is because your design leaves the case unsupported opposite to the extractor. There needs to be a rim of some sort on the breech face for the extractor to keep its grip until the ejector strikes. Therefore, what happens is that, because of gravity, your cartridges fall down and get stuck there, making the extractor hook useless and jamming the gun.

What I propose is the following: make the extractor fixed. It is very difficult to make good moving one. Also, make sure you add a block under the case on the breech face to make sure the cases actually eject.

-Your "free recoil system", unlike mine, has no damping in the springs. What you want to avoid is a gun flopping around after firing. The springs also jam the gun as it moves the bolt around.

-Make sure you include some sort of stop-block preventing trigger over-travel. The trigger just looks a bit weird when it is way inside the gun.

Other than these, good job!

No problem. One question: do you require internal parts or just all external ones?

I don't understand. You don't have to create scenes to get the recognition of others. Just take these as a personal development project, as a hobby. That will make you happier.

@goingcomandox No problem. I'll suit myself and get to work. Hope you will like my style of skin-making!

@ngphil Thank you... I appreciate your recognition.

What... I don't even make cars and I already see what's wrong:

-Your "tires" are not concentric to the wheel rim. Therefore, they are spinning off axis and your whole vehicle wobbles. I suggest doing the following: Align the circle cakes in order to get decent concentricity.

-Your "suspension" is basically a spring. You need to add something to limit the up and down travel so the suspension is realistic.

Excellent scene Clank! The skin is well shaped and the colours carefully chosen. The mechanics are realistic and crisp. I have personally disassembled a C96, and I will be nitpicky on the trigger assembly, which you seem to have spent a lot of time and effort on:

The safety mech is inaccurate. First of all, your safety lever does not have the correct pivot point and throw. The lever has a pivot in the lock frame and the throw is 50 degrees. The lever has a peg that engages in slots milled on the hammer, in such a way that when the hammer is down, the safety lever cams the hammer back slightly. However, when the hammer is cocked, the peg engages in a slot that cams the hammer back away from the sear, rendering the pistol safe. It does not interact with the sear.

@TheClankinator Thanks a lot for the kind words Clank! The original blueprints of the gun really helped, and along with some patience and failure, turned out quite fine. Enjoy!

Great scene. Noticed the 500Hz frequency. It does make things more easy!

PS: I uploaded the StG44 skin. Judgement time.

@goingcommandox Very glad I succeeded! Thank you for the kind words. I hope you will enjoy my next scene, which is a Stechkin APS. See you soon!

I want to share a few views on this particular situation.

I came into the Algodoo community very late (in 2014). I am aware that my voice may not have the same weight as more seasoned and veteran users such as Phil, Linkage... etc. I have a huge passion for firearms, and Algodoo allows me to materialise these wonderful machines into dynamic, fun and beautiful animations.

What we need to do, is not criticise the "kids" too hard. They pursue different goals but however, like us, also want to share their creations on a huge, free and accessible platform. Reality has to be faced. Algodoo is now a free software and Algobox is a public site where anyone can upload anything as long as it is within the rules. Heck, if Algodoo was not free I would not have even bothered to take a look at other people's creations or create myself. It is wrong to assume that the community is not "as good as it used to be". Things change.

I also think that a lot of so called "advanced users", which like me take this small software way too seriously , are being drama queens. I find it absurd to create scenes for the purpose of competing in downloads or ratings. This is a hobby at best, and people who see this as their second life are frankly a bit pitiful. If your scene is of high quality and of high value, it will be recognised on its own and people will appreciate it.

The "advanced users" should change their approach. Sharing knowledge and showing new ways of tackling engineering problems is way more valuable than posting these sort of open letters and "threatening" to quit. I'll be honest here, the fact that you "quit" will not affect the community. It will move on, new users will arrive, present ones will keep posting, some will stop. Again, Algobox is ever-changing and public. It is very difficult and even impossible to suppress other people's creations just because a handful of "advanced users" deem them unsuitable.

The fact that you take Algodoo seriously and make mechanical scenes (like me) is a choice. There is absolutely nothing wrong with making something else less formal, as long as it falls in the rules. I find it extremely offensive and harmful to call other people's scenes "toxic waste". They do not expect the same thing from Algodoo as we do.

I apologise for being blunt and I hope you respect my point of view. Discussion is always possible.

@Xray I respectfully disagree with age filtering. Just because a user is under 18 does not mean he will necessarily create marble races or athlons. I was personally 15 when I joined and 17 now, and I don't think I create non-technical scenes.

@INS YouTube promotes content that is popular. Naturally, the family video getting 7 views will not have the same weight as a multi-million view gameplay. The latter video will be displayed in the "recommended" homepage. Algobox does have the "Highlighted" bar, but the main interface offers every scene to get the same amount of exposure at first. Youtube does not do that.

@Xray A new Algobox? That sounds like a good idea. It will bring the technical scene community tighter and promote innovation and discussion. Please elaborate though. How will it be done, when will we be able to see it?

@Xray Whoops! Sorry, I misread because of your smiley face . It would be nice, but I don't think Algoryx would have anything to do with the new Algobox. Also, I did not know you where old enough to be a grandfather! Respect.

Please consider mapping the gear change to the top number keys. Many of users, like me, use a laptop and do not have a keypad.

FRA32, tu ne seras pas français par hasard, comme moi? Excellente scène!

Looks promising. However, it is possible to fire it unintentionally by just pulling the slide back. Your hammer is contacting the firing pin when the slide is withdrawn! You need to add a block to pivot it earlier on in the slide travel.

The ejection also seems lacklustre. This is because the ejector only takes in at the end of the slide travel, where it is slowest, and only bumps the case. You would want to move the ejector forward, to allow for more generous ejection.

Hello "this H"! Welcome to Algobox! I can see that you enjoy making guns, like me. We need more new users, as the gun community needs a little boost.

This first scene is very promising. Your L85 is convincing, has excellent contours and shading. However, I recommend removing borders and circle pies. Keep them for building, but hide them for the final scene. It's easy and it looks great!

However, I do not agree with Linkage. The bigger the gun, the better it will function, since collision is more reliable. My MP40 is the same scale as you (100m) and chugs at 450RPM at 610 Hz. Your gun is quite reliable.

There is nothing wrong in using a higher refresh rate, but 1200Hz does seem a bit excessive, especially for users with slower machines. Your L85 can function just fine with less than half of that. I personally always start with a "base" 500Hz, and adjust accordingly.

Again, enjoy your time here! See you in the next scene. If you need inspiration you can check my guns, NgPhil's, Clankinator's, Linkage's... etc.

@Xray Thanks for the kind words. Guns are a real passion of mine. I didn't know you were a gun nut too! What other sort of guns do you also own?

You are out of your mind. I am making a Stechkin APS right now. No time to research and render a new firearm, especially one as complex as the C93, sorry.

@Ultragamer Thanks! To each his or her own interests!

@TheClankinator In theory, this would have no effect on the "speed" of the gun. In fact, it will be much easier to make them faster, since you can fine tune the timing of the components. Also, thanks for your appreciation of the APS! Stay tuned!

@Xray Wow! That is an impressive collection! You are definitely prepared. I want to constitute myself a collection too, but I'm more on the historical side (soon).

@The Linkage: Yes. The objective of this concept is to segregate the roles of the bullet being projectile AND recoil provider. Now, with this cartridge system, the bullet is just the projectile. The recoil as you mentioned is now controlled by the BlowBackUnit. Therefore, as you said, the muzzle velocity will be higher, but recoil will be unaffected, and realism increases. Thanks for the comment!

BTW, why are you screwed?

@The Linkage Haha! The lag machine is set in motion!

@faytree Thank you faytree! Glad you like it.

Interesting! Reminds me of the Vetterli rifle.

@satchmo I am very moved by your comment ... Thanks a lot for your appreciation.

I do not understand this scene. You can just increase the tension of the bullet spring, why need such a complex delay mechanism?